Essie Downtown Brown

Long time, no post! It's been a month actually. I have no excuses, I guess I've just been a little lazy with the blog. But I wanted to share my current manicure because it is on trend for the season.

Last night I was deciding what color to paint my nails. I knew I wanted something on the dark side. I reached for Essie Downtown Brown. I've had this color for a couple years but it's been a while since I've worn it. After I was done I realized that this color is almost like Oxblood, which is in for this fall. You can see that it is a deep browny-red, almost like the color of blood. I know it doesn't sound nice, but the color is really pretty. It's dark enough, but not too dark that it looks black. I actually was planning on buying the Revlon polish in Vixen, because it fits into the Oxblood category. While I was at Target today I found Vixen & it looked almost identical to my Essie color. So I just saved myself a few dollars! If you don't have Downtown Brown, I would recommend the Revlon polish since it's cheaper. 

I'm really glad that I pulled this out! I will be wearing this quite a bit this fall & winter!

I plan on doing a couple Halloween inspired manicures soon, so stay tuned for that. And if you are still reading this blog, thank you! I've been absent lately but I hope to get back to posting more regularly :)

Lorac Pro Palette

Hi guys! Yesterday I went to Ulta & picked up a new "toy"! I got the Lorac Pro Palette. It is an eyeshadow palette with 8 matte shades & 8 shimmer shades. I heard about this palette about a month ago & couldn't get it out of my mind. I needed this like a hole in my head. But let's face it, makeup is not really about need. For me it's all about want! Plus I had a gift card left over from my birthday! I figured this was the best way to spend it! 

Along with the palette, you get a small tube of the Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer.

Top Row: White, Cream, Taupe, Light Pink

Bottom Row: Nude, Champagne, Gold, Light Bronze

Top Row: Mauve, Sable, Espresso, Black

Bottom Row: Pewter, Garnet, Deep Purple, Slate

I've only had this for one day but I already love it! I think this is a great neutral palette, and at $42 it is a little cheaper that the Urban Decay Naked palettes. I love the range of matte & shimmer shades. This really has all you need. I used Gold, Garnet & Sable to create a beautiful autumn inspired look. Today I'm wearing Champagne & Mauve for a simple light look. I'm really loving Mauve! It's what I hoped Tease from Naked 2 would be. The shadows are so soft & creamy & really nice to work with. If you passed on either of the Naked palettes, this might be worth checking out. You can buy the Lorac Pro Palette at Ulta & Sephora.

NOTD - Triangle Nails

Hi everyone! Today I'm wearing the trendy new triangle manicure. I've been seeing this lately & wanted to give it a try. I really love it & it's so easy! You just need two colors & some tape :) You can do this design on every nail, but I decided on just two accent nails. You can also vary the size of your triangle. Just place two strips of tape criss-crossed over your nail to create a triangle & paint. Then remove the tape & you have perfect little triangles :)

I chose one of the new fall colors from Essie called Miss Fancy Pants, with Wet N Wild Ebony Hates Chris. I'm loving this new essie color, it's a warm gray, perfect for fall. This is my second time wearing this color & I've only had it a week!

So, what do you think of the triangle nail?

NOTD - 2 for 1!

Happy Friday! Today I have two polishes to show you :) I'm warning you now, I'm in the Fall zone! No more neons for me!

They are both new colors from L'Oreal. The first is called The Perfect Trench, part of the London collection. It is a mustard yellow & I love it! I've been wanting a mustard polish for a while & when I saw this I had to have it. This color is not for everyone, but I really enjoy it! It is perfect for fall :)

Next up is Downtown Chic, from the New York Nudes collection. I also love this color. It's a great reddish brown for the fall. I decided to add some glitter with Sally Hansen Ring-a-Ding. This glitter is really pretty, but I'm not feelin it on this manicure. It's all chunky glitter which can be hard to place on the nail. I wish I had left it off. During the fall I love having short dark cream nails. I think this polish is best on its own.

What are you wearing for fall?

Mini Haul!

Saturday I went shopping & picked up a few items from the Harmon Face Values inside my Bed Bath & Beyond. I love shopping there because they seem to have new products sooner than other drugstores & they are usually cheaper. Plus I get coupons for BB&B that I can use, such as $5 off a purchase of $15 or more!

I was looking for the Fall Essie collection, but they did not have it. Instead I got some products from the new L'Oreal New York Nudes collection, plus a Revlon nail polish I've been wanting for a while.

L'Oreal Colour Riche lipstick in Nature's Blush, L'Oreal Colour Riche Le Gloss in Girl's Night Out, L'Oreal Nail polish in Downtown Chic, Revlon Smoldering

Top: Girl's Night Out gloss, Bottom: Nature's Blush lipstick

 I think these colors are so pretty & perfect for Fall. I had a hard time just three! But I wanted to try a few out, especially since I've never used this gloss before. I'm happy with my selections though :)

And Revlon Smoldering is a polish I've wanted for months now. It came out earlier this year & I always look at it in the store. I finally decided to get it. It's a silver metallic with pink/purple duochrome.

That's it for now. There are more new products coming out & I can't wait to get my hands on them!

NOTD - Rockin Mani!

Today I wanted to show you the manicure I rocked last week :) I'm wearing Color Club Peace Out Purple with Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink as my accent. I really loved this combo! Peace Out Purple is almost a neon, but doesn't dry matte, which I love! It's a really bright magenta. I decided to use Rockstar Pink because the colors really went well together. I like this particular glitter because it is pretty opaque. I've had this color since last summer & I think this is the first time I've worn it! It was fun to "shop" my nail polish collection & come up with a new look!

NOTD - Penny Talk

Hi everyone! So I was looking at my blog posts today & realized that I haven't posted in almost a month! That is crazy! So if you are still with me and reading this, thank you! I actually thought I already posted pictures of this manicure. I know that I wrote a post & uploaded these pictures. So I'm not sure what happened or why it didn't publish. 

This color is a new one from Essie called Penny Talk, from the Mirror Metallics collection. This was the only color that interested me. It is a copper/rose gold color & I love it! It is difficult to work with though. Sometimes when you go over a spot, it takes it off & you're left with a little bald spot. I had to allow some time to dry between coats. But the color is gorgeous! 

I'm so sorry for my lack of posting recently! I really hope to get on a schedule & start posting again about nail polish & makeup :) Fall is approaching & nail companies are releasing their fall collections. So I should have some new polishes to swatch in the upcoming months! Thanks again for reading & sticking with me!

Happy 4th of July!

 Hey guys! Happy 4th of July! I wanted to post my manicure for today really quickly. I decided to keep it simple and go with a classic red. I don't think you can ever go wrong with red! Ironically, the color I chose for my Independence Day mani is Double Decker Red :) As in double decker buses, as in London, as in the folks we fought for freedom! Anyway, with all that being said, I really love this color! I've had it for a while now & dug it out of my polishes that I stashed in a box. I think this color will take a place on my nail rack from now on!

I hope you all have a safe & fun 4th of July!

NOTD - Summer Sun

Today's manicure was inspired by a recent trip to the mall! I was walking past Anne Taylor Loft & admiring their window display (I wish I had taken a picture!) But they had a really pretty summer backdrop that was shades of aqua, orange & yellow in an ombre effect. So I wanted to recreate that with my nail polish. I chose Essie Turquoise & Caicos & Ulta Sun-Sational. I love this aqua color & thought the yellow, while too much on it's own, would work well as an accent. It's bright & summery!

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain - Review

Today I wanted to give a little review on a new product. You've probably already heard of these little gems, but I wanted to give my input! These are the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains. Try saying that three times fast! They are a lip stain with a built in balm. I believe there are 12 colors, although I'm not exactly sure. I have three (for now:)

As you can see, they are in pencil form, similar to the Clinique Chubby Sticks (which I have never tried) and they are retractable. So it's nice that you don't have to sharpen them.

Honey, Sweetheart & Rendezvous  

Honey, Sweetheart & Rendezvous 

Of the three colors, Honey is the most natural color, it is a mauvey-pink. Sweetheart is a bright pink that looks really bold on my lips. Rendezvous is a coraly-orange.

The color payoff on these is really good, but the lasting power is totally amazing! I wore Sweetheart one day, then took a shower & washed my face. When I was done, I still had pink stain on my lips! I will say that with Honey, the color is not as obvious. I think you get more bang for your buck with the darker colors. They go on smooth & have a nice balmy texture. After a while the balm goes away & I just apply a clear chapstick. The color is still there.

If you find the color too bright, you can apply a thin layer and sheer it out a bit. That's what I do with the orange color :)

I think these are worth checking out, especially the darker colors if you want that nice stained look. There are a couple red shades that I would love to have for the fall!

NOTD - Cinderella Mani!

Hi everyone! Happy first day of summer! We welcomed summer today with a record temperature of 98! Today I'm sharing my "Cinderella" manicure. I'm wearing China Glaze Kinetic Candy with Sally Hansen Glass Slipper over it. Kinetic Candy is a pretty dusty, sky blue cream. It came out in the spring collection. Despite buying this a few months ago, this is the first time I've worn it. I don't know what took me so long because it's a gorgeous color! Then I decided to put a layer of Glass Slipper on top. Again this is a polish that I had not worn before. It is a flakie polish that is very subtle. It looks like little glass flecks on the nail. The soft blue color reminds me of Cinderella's dress & of course Glass Slipper is self-explanatory! I really love the look of this manicure! 

theBalm

During my birthday week, theBalm cosmetics were on sale on hautelook. So I decided to buy myself a birthday gift :) I had been wanting the mary-lou manizer but didn't want to pay full price. So when I saw it was 50% off, I jumped on it! Then I decided to take advantage of the sale & buy the Nude Tude palette as well. I've heard great things about both products. Well I finally got my order today! I was so excited to get my hands on it, but wanted to take some pictures first. 

The nude tude palette is a mix of 12 shimmer & matte shades.

And how cute are all the ladies! They have two versions of this palette, naughty & nice. I love the one I got :)

Sassy, Stubborn, Selfish, Snobby, Stand-offish & Sultry

 Sophisticated, Sexy, Serious, Seductive, Silly & Sleek

The Mary-Lou Manizer is a pretty champagne/gold highlighting powder, which could also be used as an eyeshadow.

I can't wait to play with all the colors & put some looks together. A couple shades I love right off the bat are Selfish, Sultry & Sophisticated

Have you guys tried this palette or any other products from theBalm?